Police Officer
Defendants

Shelby County, AL

Patrick Swiney

Dec 10, 1987

Patrick Swiney was convicted of murdering his wife, Betty Snow
Swiney, and her ex-husband, Ronald Pate. One night, when Swiney was
approaching his house, he blacked out, stating that he felt as though he'd
been hit on the head with a baseball bat. He awoke in his house with a
serious bruise on his head and with the rifle he kept in his truck lying
near him. He found his wife and her ex-husband lying on the floor, shot dead
with bullets assumed to have been fired from the rifle.Read More by Clicking Here

Los Angeles County, CA

Evans & Ledbetter

July 8, 1928

Police officers Walter E. Evans and Miles H. Ledbetter, both
detectives, were convicted of extorting a $750 bribe from Harry McDonald, a
person with a criminal record of felonies. After being arrested in
1929 for receiving stolen property, McDonald surprised the District Attorney
by confessing to conspiracy transactions involving over 50 LAPD officers. Among those were officers Evans and Ledbetter. McDonald claimed that
the officers had in 1928 extorted a $750 bribe from him in exchange for
suppressing evidence that McDonald had purchased stolen diamonds from a Jack
Hawkins.

At trial, McDonald, his wife, and his maid all swore that
Evans and Ledbetter had visited McDonald on a Saturday and Sunday in 1928
and that McDonald had paid the officers a bribe. The officers
countered that they had indeed visited McDonald on Saturday July 7 and
Sunday July 8, 1928, but the visits were to investigate an unconnected
robbery of two diamond rings. In rebuttal, McDonald and his wife
testified that the detectives could not have visited them on the specified
dates as the McDonalds moved to a bungalow in Venice, CA on the Sunday
before July 4, and that they were not in Los Angeles for the two weeks
thereafter. The jury chose to believe the McDonalds and convicted the
two officers. In 1930, following unsuccessful appeals, the two
officers started serving their sentences in San Quentin.

Later evidence surfaced that McDonald signed a safety-deposit
record of a Los Angeles bank on July 9, 1928, so he could not have been out
of town that day as he and his wife swore. Also evidence surfaced that
their maid had not been in their employ until after August 8, so she could
not have been present on July 7 or July 8. Coupled with these
disclosures, and other discovered facts, California Governor Young pardoned
both officers in 1931. Evans and Ledbetter later received $4533.36 and
$3313.39 in compensation. (CTI)
[11/07]

Santa Barbara County, CA

Leonard Kirkes

Aug 1942

Leonard M. Kirkes, a highway patrolman, was convicted in 1950
of the 1942 murder of 20-year-old Margaret Senteney. Her body was found on
the foothills above the town of Carpinteria. The conviction was based on
circumstantial evidence including the testimony of a key witness who said
she saw Senteney get into Kirkes' car on the night of her murder. In 1953
Kirkes was retried and acquitted. The key witness at Kirkes' first trial
had been sent to a mental institution, and doctors stated that she had been
mentally disturbed even before she testified. (Conviction)
(Acquittal)
[7/07]

Cook County, IL

Steven Manning

May 1990

Steven Manning was convicted of a 1984 kidnapping in Clay
County, Missouri and the 1990 murder of trucking company owner Jimmy
Pellegrino in Illinois. Pellegrino was last seen leaving his Will County
home on May 14, 1990 and his body was found floating on June 3, 1990 in the
Des Plaines River near the Lawrence Avenue Bridge in Chicago. Manning's
convictions were based on the testimony of jailhouse informants. Manning, a
former Chicago cop, had been an FBI informant, but when he no longer wanted
to work for his FBI handlers, Robert Buchan and Gary Miller, he sued them
for harassment. They retaliated by framing him for the crimes, for which he
was sentenced to death. Manning was released in 2004 and awarded $6,581,000
in Jan. 2005 after a jury agreed that he had been framed. The 1984
kidnapping apparently never happened, as the kidnapped drug dealers did not
report the crime for 6 years. The FBI refuses to criminally charge Buchan
and Miller for their actions. (CWC)
(Chicago Tribune)
(Justice:
Denied) (Appeal) [9/05]

Floyd County, IN

David Camm

Sept 28, 2000 (Georgetown)

David Camm, a former Indiana state trooper, was convicted in
2002 of the murders of his wife Kimberly, daughter Jill, 5, and son Bradley,
7. Inside the garage of the Camm residence, the children had been shot to
death while sitting in the back seat of the family's Ford Bronco. Kim was
shot to death next to the Bronco. The residence was on Lockhart Road in
Georgetown, IN.Read More by Clicking Here

Vanderburgh County, IN

Patrick Bradford

Aug 1, 1992

Patrick Bradford, an Evansville police officer, was convicted
of murdering Tammy Lohr, 24, a woman with whom he had been having an
affair. The evidence shows that Bradford could not have committed the
crime. Tammy worked at the county jail, and a more logical suspect is a
corrections coworker who was fired for hitting inmates and sexually
harassing Tammy. The coworker ranted that he would get even with Tammy if
it was the last thing he ever did. A later review of this individual's
court activity suggested that the prosecution needed him to testify in some
cases and for that reason they were not willing to regard him as a suspect.
(TruthInJustice) (48
Hours) [11/05]

Oxford County, ME

Dwyer & Carroll

Oct 13, 1937 (South Paris)

Francis M. Carroll, a deputy sheriff in Oxford County, was
convicted in 1938 of the murder of Dr. James G. Littlefield. Littlefield and his wife, Lydia, disappeared from their home in South Paris
on Oct. 13, 1937. On Oct. 16, Paul Nathaniel (Buddy) Dwyer, 18, also
from South Paris, was found sleeping in the couple's car by police in North
Arlington, NJ. The bodies of the dead couple were found in the trunk. Dwyer confessed to killing the couple and was extradited to Maine the next
day. He was placed in the custody of Francis Carroll, the father of
Dwyer's former girlfriend, Barbara (Babs) Carroll. On Dec 2, Dwyer
pleaded guilty to the murder of Dr. Littlefield and was sentenced to life in
prison.

Within months, Dwyer accused Deputy Carroll of having killed
Dr. Littlefield to prevent him from disclosing that the deputy had engaged
in incest with his daughter, Babs. Babs allegedly acknowledged that
she engaged in sexual activity with her father on several occasions
beginning when she was eleven years old. Carroll was soon convicted of
the murder of Dr. Littlefield, primarily because of Dwyer's testimony. Carroll and Dwyer could not both be guilty of murder under the conflicting
prosecution theories on which their convictions rested, but both were
imprisoned until 1950, when Carroll's conviction was vacated. In
vacating the conviction, a Superior Court judge declared that the prosecutor
in the case “deliberately, purposely, and intentionally . . . practiced
fraud and deception on the court and jury.”

While there is reasonable doubt about Carroll's conviction,
Dwyer's story implicating him is quite believable and it would appear that
Carroll is most likely the killer. In Oct. 1959 Maine Governor Clausen
commuted Dwyer's life sentence to 28 years, making him immediately eligible
for parole, a parole Dwyer was soon granted. (CWC)
(NY
Daily News) (AP)
(Life) (NY Times) (56)
(58) [10/09]

Suffolk County, MA

Kenneth Conley

May 27, 1997

Kenneth Conley, a Boston police officer, was convicted of
perjury for testifying that he did not observe the police beating of a
shooting suspect in 1995. The suspect happened to be an undercover
officer. The conviction was overturned in 2000 because the prosecution
withheld evidence that the witness against Conley expressed doubts about his
memories and suggested that he be hypnotized. (Boston
Globe) (Appeals)
[11/05]

Chickasaw County, MS

Cameron Todd

1997

Cameron Todd, a police officer, arrested three adults and
three teenagers for setting fire to a trailer. One of them, a 13-year-old
girl accused him and others of raping her. Todd was charged with Capital
Rape (in 1997) and was linked in press hysteria as being one of the
ringleaders of a major child prostitution, drug, and pornography operation. The girl who made the initial accusation has since recanted. (MS
Justice) (Todd
v. State)
[3/05]

Atlantic County, NJ

Jim Andros

Apr 1, 2001 (Pleasantville)

Jim Andros, an Atlantic City police officer, was charged with
suffocating his wife. Twenty months later charges were dropped after
prosecutors concluded she died of a rare heart condition. (NY
Times) [9/05]

Stephens County, OK

Lefty Fowler

Jan 23, 1948 (Duncan)

E. L. “Lefty” Fowler was convicted of the murder of Helen
Beavers. Fowler was a Duncan policeman and had been with her a short
time before she was killed. Following Beaver's murder, Fowler quit his
job, failed to pick up his last check, and engaged in conversation
indicating that he was considering suicide. He also began an excessive
round of drinking.

Less than two months after Beavers' murder, Fowler was
arrested in Waurika and imprisoned for drunkenness in the Jefferson County
Jail. Three Crime Bureau Agents then fraudulently conspired to
transport Fowler to Stephens County for interrogation. They freed
Fowler (by paying his fine) on condition he drive a supposedly drunk
cellmate, who was actually an agent, to Stephens County. Once in
Stephens County, Fowler was arrested on bogus charges that were never filed. He was then denied access to a magistrate and a lawyer, and interrogated
under coercive conditions for 12 days.

Fowler eventually confessed to the murder of Beavers, but the
County Attorney thought the confession was inconsistent with the facts. Beavers was then required to give another confession, which was signed at 5
a.m., apparently after an all night grilling. Even this confession was
not regarded as sufficient and Beavers had to give two more before
authorities were satisfied.

In 1960, Fowler was granted habeas corpus relief due to his
coerced and illegal interrogation. He presumably was released. (Argosy)
[4/08]

Providence County, RI

Scott Hornoff

Aug 11, 1989

Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, a Warwick Police Detective, was
convicted of bludgeoning to death Victoria Cushman with a fire extinguisher
and a porcelain jewelry box. Following the murder, Hornoff denied
being anything other than friends with Cushman. Detectives knew
otherwise and Hornoff soon admitted that he had two sexual encounters with
her. Hornoff's alibi was that he was at a party with his wife and
friends on the night of the murder. People at the party confirmed his
presence. A grand jury considered the evidence, but did not indict
him.

The Rhode Island State Patrol took over the investigation in
1991 and Hornoff was indicted in 1994. At trial in 1996, the
prosecution dismissed his alibi, saying he slipped away from the party and
returned without anyone noticing his absence. Hornoff's initial claim
of only having been friends with Cushman was presented as evidence that he
tried to cover-up the murder. Hornoff was sentenced to life in prison
and, in 1999, the Rhode Island Supreme Court unanimously rejected his
appeal.

Realistically, it was time for Hornoff to abandon hope. But then a miracle occurred. On Nov. 1, 2002, Todd Barry walked into
the attorney general's office and confessed to murdering Cushman. Barry said he was consumed with guilt that an innocent man was serving time
for a crime that he committed. Barry's confession revealed how the
murder investigation had focused exclusively on Hornoff. Barry lived
near Cushman, had dated her on and off, his name and number were near the
front of her Rolodex, and he was known to her friends. Yet he was
never questioned about the murder, either by the Warwick PD, or by the state
police.

Hornoff was soon released and cleared of all charges. In
2006, Hornoff was awarded $600,000 plus $47,000 a year for life from the
City of Warwick. He may also be awarded additional money from the
Rhode Island State Patrol. (American
Justice) (caught.net)
(JD)
(TruthInJustice) (TIJ#2)
(00)
(04)
[7/07]

Grant County, WV

Paul Ferrell

Feb 17, 1988

Paul William Ferrell, a rookie sheriff's deputy, was convicted
of the murder of Cathy Ford, a 19-year-old waitress from nearby Maryland.
Her body has never been found and no one had ever seen her with Ferrell.
Some time after Ford's disappearance, her boyfriend, Darvin Moon, discovered
her badly burned truck 75 yards from Ford's trailer home. Some believed that
the truck was burned elsewhere because there was no scorching on the
vegetation surrounding the vehicle.Read More by Clicking Here

Brown County, WI

John Maloney

Feb 10, 1998 (Green Bay)

John Maloney, a detective in the Green Bay PD, and an arson
investigator, was convicted of strangling his estranged wife, Sandy, and
setting her body on fire. Maloney was a suspect because of their
impending divorce, ongoing child custody battle, and history of domestic
disputes. Sandy was a heavy user of prescription pills and was very
drunk at the time of her death. She apparently tried to hang herself
shortly before her death, but the cord broke causing her to bruise her head
on a coffee table. She then apparently started a fire by careless
smoking or perhaps deliberately. The state maintained that Maloney hit
her on the head, strangled her, and then set a fire that was staged to look
like the result of careless smoking.

Special prosecutor, Joe Paulus (DA of Winnebago County),
withheld evidence. Initially the fire was labeled an accident but
circular reasoning developed: “The fire guys decided it must be an
arson because it was murder. The coroner decided it must be a murder
because it was arson.” (TruthInJustice)
(Article 2)
(Article 3) (48
Hours) [11/05]

Eau Claire County, WI

Evan Zimmerman

Feb 26, 2000

Evan Zimmerman, a former Augusta, WI police officer, was
convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, Kathleen Thompson. Thompson had had a violent fight with her husband just hours after their
wedding. Following the fight, both were taken to the Eau Claire County
Jail. Thompson was last seen walking away from the jail at 3 a.m. and
later was found strangled on a Eau Claire street. Her husband was
never considered a suspect as he was in jail at the time of her murder. Zimmerman's conviction was based on allegedly inconsistent statements he
gave to Eau Claire police about his whereabouts around the time of the
murder. None of Zimmerman's interrogations were taped.

Zimmerman's son, Shannon, said the alleged inconsistencies
were due to his father being in an alcoholic haze at the time of the crime
and during subsequent police interviews. He said the case against his father
consisted of “out-of-context statements, misleading statements and very,
very shaky facts.” With the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project,
Zimmerman's conviction was overturned. At retrial in April 2005, the
prosecution's case did not proceed well, and in mid-trial the prosecutor
asked the judge to throw out the case, saying he lacked the evidence to show
“beyond a reasonable doubt” that Zimmerman had killed his former girlfriend. The judge agreed and acquitted Zimmerman. Zimmerman had served 3 1/2
years in prison for the crime. (Wisconsin
State Journal) [1/08]

Milwaukee County, WI

Laurie Bembenek

May 28, 1981

Lawrencia Bembenek, also known as Bambi, was convicted of
murdering Christine Schultz, her husband's ex-wife. Bambi's husband
Fred Schultz was a police officer as was his ex-wife. Bambi had become
a police officer and was stunned by the amount of graft going on in the
department: officers selling pornography from their cars, accepting oral sex
from hookers, frequenting drug hangouts, and harassing minorities.Read More by Clicking Here